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Written question asked by Robert Walter (Conservative) on Wednesday, 1 April 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 April 2009. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Monday, 27 April 2009 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Prisoners Release

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners serving sentences for each category of offence have been released on licence under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998; and how many such prisoners were classified as belonging to a (a) loyalist and (b) republican organisation.
Answer

452 persons have been released on licence under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998. Of these 242 were affiliated to republican organisations, 197 to loyalist organisations and 13 had no recorded affiliation. The numbers of those released by the main category of offence for which they were convicted are shown in the following table.

Affiliation
Offence Number Republican Loyalist None
Life Sentence Prisoners
Murder 154 69 82 3
Explosives offences 5 5 0 0
Total 159 74 82 3
Fixed Sentence Prisoners
Attempted murder 67 41 24 2
Conspiracy to murder 68 42 24 2
Manslaughter 7 1 5 1
Threats to kill 5 0 5 0
Directing terrorism 1 0 1 0
Explosives offences 50 45 5 0
Firearms and ammunition offences 48 25 23 0
Robbery/burglary offences 24 3 16 5
Kidnapping offences 5 3 2 0
Blackmail 2 0 2 0
Hijacking 2 0 2 0
Grievous bodily harm 6 2 4 0
Conspiracy to commit arson 1 1 0 0
Assisting offenders 2 1 1 0
Belonging to a proscribed organisation 1 1 0 0
Conspiring with others to further criminal means 1 0 1 0
Possession of materials for the purpose of terrorism 3 3 0 0
Total 293 168 115 10

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
491 c1008-10W; 269300
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Northern Ireland Prisoners' release
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk